US Supreme Court to Rule on Seizure of Iranian Antiquities
The United States Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday, June 27, to decide on a request by families of victims of a 1997 bombing in Jerusalem to enforce a $71 million court judgment in Chicago against Iran.
According to Reuters news agency, if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, a collection of Iranian antiquities located in two Chicago museums will be seized on their behalf.
The Supreme Court justices are set to review the plaintiffs’ appeal of a ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago in favor of Iran.
The original lawsuit filed in Chicago court concerns an attack in Jerusalem in 1997, in which three members of the Hamas group carried out a suicide operation that killed five people. Eight Americans were also injured in the incident.
These individuals, along with their relatives, sued an American court against Iran for its suspected role in the attack and obtained a judgment awarding them compensation from Iran in the amount of $71.5 million.
To collect their compensation, the plaintiffs have targeted three collections of Iranian antiquities, including prehistoric ceramic vessels, jewelry, and ancient inscriptions in Elamite script, held by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
The two museums claim ownership of these artifacts, but the plaintiffs have argued that Iran is the owner. A Chicago court rejected the plaintiffs’ request to transfer and sell these artifacts to cover the compensation amount in April 2014.
Most of these inscriptions have been on loan to the Oriental Institute of Chicago since the 1930s under a long-term agreement signed with the Iranian government at that time.
Robert Gettleman, the judge overseeing the case in Chicago court, referring to the agreement with the Iranian government, stated that these objects were loaned by Iran for academic and research purposes, and since they were not loaned for commercial purposes, they cannot be confiscated.
Iran has repeatedly requested the return of these artifacts in the past. The University of Chicago has returned over 30,000 antiquities to Iran over the years.
Matt Stolper, who oversees the care of these objects in Chicago, told the Associated Press that once the cataloging of the remaining objects is completed, all of them will be returned to Iran.
The US Supreme Court will hear arguments from both sides during its new term beginning in October.
The Supreme Court’s ruling is likely to affect the outcome of a similar case brought by four different groups representing plaintiffs injured in other attacks backed by Iran.
These plaintiffs are seeking to enforce court judgments accepting that $17.6 million from the assets of Iran’s national bank be paid to them.
Last year, in a similar matter, the Supreme Court ruled to seize $2 billion in Iranian assets to be paid to American victims’ families from the 1983 Beirut bombing by the Lebanese Hezbollah group and other attacks that Iran has been accused of supporting.
Source: Radio Farda
